This application claims a priority based on Japanese Patent Application 11-261137 filed on Sep. 14, 1999, and 2000-233093 filed on Aug. 1, 2000, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
The present invention relates to a technique for simulating in a virtual world, a behavior of a real object and, more particularly, to a technique for representing an interaction between objects.
Simulation is a technique for simulating the behavior of an object having certain characteristics in a real world, as a behavior in the virtual world and for displaying the object. This technique is widely used in various fields including entertainment such as games and movies, medical activities, manufacturing industries and education. In order to create a realistic dynamic image in such a simulation, an interaction between objects must be represented in the dynamic image.
An example of such representation of the interaction between objects is an induced explosion. The induced explosion is represented by generating fragments, sparks and the like as a result of an explosion of an object, and by scattering them to collide with another object. According to this method, however, since there may be a great number of the fragments, sparks and the like, processing volume may exceed an allowable range. In particular, this type of problem is significant in video game apparatuses and the like in which a dynamic image must be displayed using real time simulation.
The present invention was made taking the above-described situation into consideration, and it is an object of the invention to represent an interaction between objects and, more particularly, an induced explosion between objects with a smaller processing volume.
In order to achieve the above-described object, according to the present invention, for example, when a dynamic image in which an object is subjected to an induced explosion under influence of an explosion of another object, a predetermined range is set, which is determined by a position and attributes of the exploded object. Then, another object located within the predetermined range is detected, and the object is set as an object to be subjected to an induced explosion.
According to the invention, since the object to be subjected to an induced explosion is set within a predetermined range determined by the position and attributes of the exploded object, a dynamic image representing the induced explosion of the object can be created with a processing volume much smaller than that in the case where collisions of fragments and sparks with other objects are simulated as described above, to determine the object to be subjected to the induced explosion.